Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the unfortunate passing of the amazing Japanese anime director Satoshi Kon due to pancreatic cancer. Carlotta Films is producing a new documentary on the director.
Titled Satoshi Kon: Dreaming Machine, the documentary takes its title from Kon's final, incomplete project, Dreaming Machine. At the time of his death, Kon had completed less than half of the animation shots however the script and storyboards were finished.
The film had been in development for nearly six years as anime producer Masao Maruyama (Madhouse, MAPPA) looked for a director to complete the project. However, he finally decided to cancel the project, stating, "For 4~5 years, I kept searching for a suitable director to complete Kon's work. Before his death, the storyboard and script, even part of the keyframe film was already completed. Then I thought, even if someone can mimic Kon's work, it would still be clear that it's only an imitation. For example, if Mamoru Hosoda took the director's position, the completed Dreaming Machine would still be a good piece of work. However, that would make it Hosoda's movie, not Kon's. Dreaming Machine should be Kon's movie, him and only him, not someone else's. That means we cannot and should not "compromise" only to finish it. I spent years to finally reach this hard conclusion."
The teaser trailer below reveals that the documentary will focus on Kon's amazing career by featuring interviews with numerous industry veterans including animator Aya Suzuki (Wolf Children, The Wind Rises), director Mamoru Hosodav(Mirai, Summer Wars), Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell). Kon's work has previously attracted praise from the likes of Darren Aronofsky and Chrisopher Nolan.
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